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Chambers Dictionary defines 'sea' as "the great mass of salt water covering the greater part of the earth's surface; the ocean." It defines 'ocean' as "the vast expanse of salt water that covers the greater part of the surface of the globe." You'd be hard put to find any difference there!
In Greek, Okeanos meant the stream of water that was believed to encircle the land-disc of the earth. This meant the great outer sea beyond Gibraltar - effectively, the Atlantic - as opposed to the Mediterranean and Black Seas the Greeks were familiar with. In Roman times �mare oceanum' meant the �ocean sea' and in Old French, �mer oceane' meant the same, with �oceane' as an adjective qualifying the noun �mer' = sea.
In early English, the writer Chaucer refers to "the sea of the ocean". Until about 100 years ago, what we now call the North Sea was called the German Ocean, even by British people. In other words, there is no true historic or linguistic reason to differentiate between them. The words are, quite simply, inextricably linked.
In recent times, there have been efforts to provide scientific definitions designed to separate them. One is a statement such as "Seas are the waters above continental shelves and oceans are the waters above the deep troughs further from land." Other modern ideas suggest that seas are marked out by land masses, even if they are not enclosed. Those statements, however, take little account of the realities. For example, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal form the northerly half of the Indian Ocean and the Sargasso Sea is just a chunk of the Atlantic, as H says above.
Basically, it probably just boils down to size or depth in that oceans are generally thought of as larger and deeper than seas.
In Greek, Okeanos meant the stream of water that was believed to encircle the land-disc of the earth. This meant the great outer sea beyond Gibraltar - effectively, the Atlantic - as opposed to the Mediterranean and Black Seas the Greeks were familiar with. In Roman times �mare oceanum' meant the �ocean sea' and in Old French, �mer oceane' meant the same, with �oceane' as an adjective qualifying the noun �mer' = sea.
In early English, the writer Chaucer refers to "the sea of the ocean". Until about 100 years ago, what we now call the North Sea was called the German Ocean, even by British people. In other words, there is no true historic or linguistic reason to differentiate between them. The words are, quite simply, inextricably linked.
In recent times, there have been efforts to provide scientific definitions designed to separate them. One is a statement such as "Seas are the waters above continental shelves and oceans are the waters above the deep troughs further from land." Other modern ideas suggest that seas are marked out by land masses, even if they are not enclosed. Those statements, however, take little account of the realities. For example, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal form the northerly half of the Indian Ocean and the Sargasso Sea is just a chunk of the Atlantic, as H says above.
Basically, it probably just boils down to size or depth in that oceans are generally thought of as larger and deeper than seas.
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